Donald Miller
still loves God and Jesus. Don't misunderstand him.
His problem is
with Christianity, at least how it's often practiced.
''It's a
dangerous term, so I try to avoid it,'' said Miller, who
considered giving up his career as a Christian writer and
leaving the church in 2003 because he couldn't attend
services without getting angry.
For him, the word
conjured up conservative politics, suburban
consumerism, and an ''insensitivity to people who aren't
like us.'' He sat in his boxer shorts and banged out a
memoir of his experiences with God, stripped of the
trappings of religion.
Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian
Spirituality sold just enough to pay a few months' rent.
Then five years later, spurred by a grassroots
movement of 20-something Christians longing to connect
to God without ties to the religious right, the book
became a sudden hit.
Fans were buying
caseloads and passing out copies to friends. It peaked
at number 18 on The New York Times list of best
sellers among paperback nonfiction in November. He was
mobbed by fans after a recent Young Life conference in
Orlando where he addressed a crowd of roughly 4,000.
Christians tired
of the ''life is perfect'' mantra of some churches revel
in his ability to talk unashamedly about smoking pot, living
in a hippie commune, and the notion that God isn't a
Republican.
Supporters say
Miller's authentic, graceful approach to God has finally
given a voice to their brand of Christianity. The book also
debuted at a time when the emerging church movement --
which emphasizes the individual's faith experience and
varied worship styles -- is flourishing, signaling a
fertile audience for such religious musings among more
socially liberal evangelicals.
Watching TBN one
night on TV, Miller, 36, realized the conservative
religious network was many people's baseline for
Christianity. He wanted to change that.
''These people
are absurd. I've been a Christian all my life and I don't
even know Christians this weird,'' said the Portland,
Ore.-based writer, who is single.
In his book,
Miller describes his disdain for the "us vs. them"
mentality between Christians and non-Christians.
''I felt, once
again, that there was this underlying hostility for
homosexuals and Democrats and, well, hippie types. I cannot
tell you how much I did not want liberal or gay people
to be my enemies. I liked them,'' he wrote. ''The real
issue in the Christian community was that (love) was
conditional ... You were loved in word, but there was,
without question, a social commodity that was being
withheld from you until you shaped up.''
Dave Morton was
also growing cold on the church when he picked up
Miller's book.
''The perspective
that was refreshing to me was that your Christian faith
doesn't have to look exactly like everybody else's,'' said
Morton, a 28-year-old ski instructor from Bend, Ore.
''It kind of inspired me to pursue God again with a
fresh perspective.''
Brad Jones, a
30-year-old youth pastor at a conservative Southern Baptist
Church in South Florida, said he felt alone in his desire
for more authentic dialogue about God.
''My thoughts on
faith aren't really going along with everyone else, and
then I read this and said, 'That's what I've been thinking
the whole time,''' he said.
Miller's book
embraces cultural relevance, not cultural dominance, he
said.
"The typical
judgmental, hate-filled, bigoted, 'more people knew what
we were against than what we were for,'" mentality has
little to do with the real God, Jones said.
Some experts say
Miller and authors like him are in sync with a
generation of young adults who very much believe in God,
Jesus, and the basics of Christianity but are
struggling to balance their conservative Christian
upbringing with a culture that embraces a go-along-to
get-along philosophy.
''People like
Donald Miller are speaking almost like a prophet of a new
age and describing the landscape in a way people who feel
comfortable in that landscape really couldn't
articulate before,'' said David Kinnaman, a researcher
for the Barna Group and author of Unchristian.
Critics call
Miller's works casual and glib and say he strays from
biblical truths when he downplays homosexuality and other
sins.
One such critic,
Shane Walker, says Miller presents Jesus as a ''nice
fellow who meets one at the campfire and swaps stories.'' He
forgets to remind readers that Jesus is also a judge
and avenger who ''wants to save you from his just
wrath,'' according to his review for 9Marks, an
organization designed to help local churches reestablish
their biblical bearings.
Miller, who is
almost disappointingly normal-looking in jeans and a blue
button-down shirt, says, ''Toeing the party line for the
church is not my job; telling the truth is my job. I
don't fear saying that certain Republican policies are
painful for God to endure.''
Miller has sold
more than a million books, including Searching for God
Knows What, and republished his first book,
Through Painted Deserts, which sold
dismally before his Blue Like Jazz fame. He
also travels much of the year for speaking engagements.
''When I wrote
this book I felt like I was stuffing a message in a
bottle,'' Miller said.
Like the old
Police song, Miller's beach is now flooded with responses.
''There's this
connection of 'Hey, we're not alone in this boat.'''
(Kelli Kennedy, AP)
